After six years of logging every appliance repair invoice for our company's rental portfolio, I've landed on an opinion that sounds wrong until you see the spreadsheet:
Most of the money we spent on LG appliance service calls was avoidable. Not because LG makes perfect machines, but because we were paying somebody to read the manual and the screen for us.
I'm a procurement manager, not a repair tech. I don't work for LG, and nobody's paying me to defend their brand. I've negotiated with dozens of vendors over the years, tracked roughly $40,000 a year in appliance purchases and repairs across our properties, and documented every invoice in our cost system. What the data kept telling me was uncomfortable: the machines weren't failing nearly as often as our service log suggested.
The Spin-Only Cycle That Cost Us $140
Back in 2023, a tenant reported that their LG front-load washer "wouldn't spin." They were frustrated, so we called an authorized service tech — $140 for the visit, and I have that invoice in front of me right now. The tech was in and out in about ten minutes. No parts replaced. He ran a drain-and-spin cycle, cleared the error, and told the tenant to check the drain filter for small items. That was it.
To be fair, the washer had stopped mid-cycle and thrown an error code. That looks like a broken machine. But if you've ever searched how to do spin only on an LG washer, you know the answer is right there in the manual. Press Power, select the Spin cycle, choose a spin speed, and press Start. The washer drains and spins without running a full wash cycle. It's a 30-second operation.
Press Power → select Spin → set the speed → press Start. That's the entire "repair" we got billed $140 for.
We had six washer-related service calls that year across our units. On four of them, the invoice read "no parts replaced," and the notes described work I could have done with a manual. Total cost of those four avoidable calls: about $510 including trip charges. That's real money for a guy whose whole job is watching the budget.
After the fourth invoice, I wrote a one-page troubleshooting checklist and put it in the tenant welcome folder for every laundry room. It didn't stop the actual breakdowns — machines still fail — but it cut the "beep-and-blink" calls by more than half. I don't have hard data on how many of our service calls were avoidable by some industry standard; no public statistic I could point to tracks that. But in our own books, four out of six washer visits were settings, not failures.
LG ThinQ: The Diagnostic We Almost Ignored
The second lesson was the LG ThinQ fridge. We put two ThinQ-enabled refrigerators into a renovated building at the end of 2023, and I'd requested that model specifically because I wanted basic diagnostic alerts. Then we nearly wasted that advantage.
From the outside, ThinQ notifications look like a gimmick — another app so you can check the freezer temp from your couch. People assume the app exists mainly to show off. What most people don't realize is that the alert history is genuinely useful if you actually look at it. Last year, one of the ThinQ fridges sent a temperature-rise alert to our maintenance account. The notification didn't say "replace the compressor." It pointed to reduced airflow and recommended checking the door seal and not overloading the lower shelves. A five-minute check, a resealed door, and the unit recovered. Zero-dollar fix on a $1,400 refrigerator.
The other underrated feature: I can pull model, serial, and warranty lookup links out of the LG app instead of digging through closing binders. For someone tracking total cost of ownership, that isn't a gimmick.
The real problem wasn't the technology. It was that we had no process for checking notifications. The third time an alert went unnoticed for days, I set up a simple weekly review where the maintenance lead scans all active ThinQ alerts in one pass. Should have done that after the first one.
Buy Heat Pump Dryer? Only If You Run the Real Math
Here's the recommendation that gets the most pushback, so I'll state it plainly: I've recommended heat pump dryers for our high-use laundry locations, and I'd make that call again. But I don't recommend them to everyone, because the payback math only works in certain conditions.
In ENERGY STAR's test procedure, heat pump dryers typically show up at roughly half the electricity use of a conventional electric dryer — sometimes better, depending on the model and load size. For a building doing a lot of loads a day, that difference turns into real dollars. On the commercial rates in our area, and with the volume our larger properties generate, the energy savings can cover the upfront premium in roughly 2 to 3 years.
But here's what I tell people before they buy heat pump dryer units: the cycles run long. A conventional electric dryer might finish a load in 45 to 50 minutes; a heat pump model can easily go 80 to 100 minutes. If your staff or tenants are used to fast turnaround, you'll hear about it. And if your building already has a short, clean vent duct, the energy advantage narrows. There's also a quieter benefit that doesn't show up in the utility bill: ventless operation. No lint vent to clean, and more placement options if running ductwork is expensive.
So my honest answer is: buy heat pump dryer models for high-volume, ventless, or slab installations where the cycle time tradeoff is acceptable. For a low-use laundry room with good venting, the cheaper conventional unit can win on total cost of ownership.
The Line: Gas Wall Ovens and Water Heaters
I also want to draw a clear line, because this whole article could sound like I'm telling you to do your own appliance work. I'm not. I'm telling you to understand your equipment before you pay someone to hold the manual for you.
For example, when we spec'd a 27-inch gas wall oven for our corporate kitchen refresh, I didn't wing it. Gas ovens involve line sizing, BTU ratings, local ventilation requirements, and sometimes a permit. That's a licensed installer's job, and I said exactly that at the budget meeting. I still compare quotes from three pros — I just don't pretend I can do that work myself.
Same with water heaters. Search "how to replace hot water heater" and you'll find plenty of confident DIY guides, but gas water heater replacement means combustion venting, pressure relief, and code inspections. I've seen the consequences of cutting corners. We once saved about $200 by accepting a lower bid that turned out to skip the expansion tank and use improper connections. The follow-up repair, after a slow leak damaged a cabinet floor, cost us $750. The "budget" choice looked smart until it wasn't.
So my position isn't "do everything yourself." It's: learn the settings, use the diagnostic tools, and run the total cost math. And when the job genuinely requires a license and a permit, hand the money to the professional without guilt.
You'll probably say you don't have time to learn appliance settings. I get it. But the invoice is the time. A 30-second spin-only selection is worth more to me than a $140 service call, and the licensed tech who collected that $140 was worth every dollar when we actually needed him. We just didn't need him four out of six times.
That's what six years of invoices come down to: the most expensive appliance is the one nobody understands. Learning your equipment isn't a nice-to-have. It's the cheapest repair you'll ever make.
Ask Lg about this sourcing topic